Lewisburg Water Situation
As you probably know Lewisburg is under a water moratorium, which means we are not allowing any large subdivisions to be built. During droughts we run extremely low on water and cannot support new growth unless the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) allows us to pull more water from the Duck River.
Lewisburg Water has received a preliminary draft permit from TDEC. This permit, if approved and finalized by TDEC, would allow Lewisburg to withdraw up to six million gallons a day from the Duck River. Currently we are capped at four million gallons per day. The Lewisburg water board of directors has voted to approve the permit as written.
There was a town hall meeting at Henry Horton State Park on March 18 in which the public could make comments. If you were not able to attend the meeting, the comment period stays open through March 28, and you can make comments online. We cannot accurately predict how long after March 28 it will take to finalize the permit and officially issue it. The state will have to prepare formal responses to comments. It is estimated to take about four weeks. Your participation is critical in demonstrating the widespread benefits of this permit for our community.
It is important to note that our current water plant can only produce four million gallons of water per day. There are a few milestones that still need to happen before we can produce more water for Lewisburg.
- Final TDEC Permit approval (as explained above).
- Finish the water plant design. Currently plans are being engineered to build a new water plant that would process the proposed six million gallons per day.
- Secure bonds to build the new water plant.
- Construct the new water plant.
We are hopeful that steps 2 through 4 will be completed in a little over 2 years.
Thank you for your support. Together, we can ensure a sustainable and thriving future for Lewisburg and the surrounding areas.
Trigg Cathey, P.E.
General Manager Lewisburg Water and Wastewater
